The Hurry-Up is your nightly dose of updates from the Ohio State football recruiting trail, keeping tabs on the latest from commits and targets from around the country.
Henderson addresses spring eligibility
It's looking inevitable that TreVeyon Henderson won't get to see any live game action this year. The last time he played a real game, Henderson and his Hopewell (Va.) High School teammates completed a 15-0 state championship season in a 35-7 win over Lord Botetourt on Dec. 14, 2019, which feels more like nine years ago than nine months with everything that's happened since.
And now, after the NCAA's Football Oversight Committee recommended to the Division I Council that early enrollees should not be eligible to play in college games during a winter or spring season, it's looking unlikely that Henderson – who is enrolling in January even though Virginia postponed its high school football season to the spring – will play in another game until the fall of 2021.
“Really, I don’t know how to feel about that. It is what it is,” Henderson told Eleven Warriors. “I can’t control what the NCAA does and how they make their decisions. I just hope that Ohio State is able to play this fall instead of the spring.
“(Ryan Day) was definitely fighting very hard for us to be able to play. He always told the class that if we’re able to play, be ready and be prepared. ... I’m pretty disappointed because I don’t have a season so now it’s crazy. I was looking forward to playing in the spring if they were playing. But it is what it is now. It’s very frustrating, but at the end of the day it is what it is. I’m not gonna stress myself out over it.”
Similar to how fellow 2021 commit Kyle McCord is taking an in-stride approach to the NCAA's decision, Henderson's response demonstrates his maturity. But that doesn't mean he isn't concerned about a 20-plus-month layoff between playing in games. Getting used to contact again will be one of the biggest issues.
“I’m pretty disappointed because I don’t have a season so now it’s crazy. I was looking forward to playing in the spring if they were playing.”– ohio state running back commit TreVeyon Henderson
“I mean, just not being hit for a matter of time, for a year without contact and stuff like that, I know that it’ll be a huge difference for me when I finally step back on the field because I haven’t been hit in so long,” Henderson said. “That’s what I’ve been thinking about, for real, is those hits I’ll be taking soon will be so different because I haven’t been hit in such a long time.”
Like his future linebacker teammate Reid Carrico told us a week ago, however, the best you can do in 2020 is stay positive.
“Just trying to stay positive, yep, I feel that,” Henderson said.
OU flip rumors
Ever since he committed to the Buckeyes in March, there have continued to be Internet rumors and scuttlebutt without any real legs that Henderson might flip to Oklahoma. Those rumors probably aren't going to stop, but we asked Henderson if he wanted to take some time to address them.
“I’ve been hearing rumors like that,” Henderson said. “I’m always just trying to figure who those rumors are coming from. I’m a Buckeye. I’ve been hearing these rumors forever. I don’t comment on them because there’s no reason to. You can see just by my Twitter that I’m a Buckeye.”
— TreVeyon Henderson (@TreVeyonH4) September 1, 2020
Instead of putting energy into message board nonsense, Henderson is focusing on his training – Eleven Warriors caught him in a rare off day during Friday's interview – and potentially getting over to Ohio State to check out the campus, on his own dime and without visiting with any Buckeye coaches. Previously, Henderson told us he was hoping to get to Columbus sometime this fall, and he's still hopeful something will be arranged.
“I’ll probably take a trip down there, if I can, with my mom whenever she’s able to,” Henderson said. “I don’t have anything planned out. I’ve still gotta work on all that.”
Carrico self-coaches
When Trevon Pendleton first arrived at Ironton, as he prepped for his first season in charge as head coach in 2018, he could tell Reid Carrico had something special in him.
Carrico still had some developing to do, though, as the Tigers’ star hadn’t quite put it all together. Flash forward two years later, and Carrico has met his potential as a high school star – and then some.
“He was a sophomore my first year, and he was just a real raw kid,” Pendleton told Eleven Warriors following Ironton’s Week 1 win over Portsmouth. “Very athletic and very hard worker, but I think he’s grown mentally. He’s matured a lot, and he understands the game of football a lot more. That comes with reps, and that comes with a lot of film watching and film breakdown. He understands it, and he’s the type of guy that can coach himself on the field. He knows when he messes up, he’ll come to the sideline and before I even say a word, he’s like, ‘Yeah, I know, Coach.’”
Pendleton will be one of the beneficiaries of another top-tier athlete, Trevor Carter, coming up in the program, as Carter has similar potential to become a star by the time his junior and senior seasons hit. The 2023 athlete – one who will eventually slide down into the outside linebacker slot instead of playing safety like he is now – shares some of the same qualities that Carrico has.
“I think a lot of it just stems back to their work ethic,” Pendleton said of what makes those two players special. “On and off the field, they’re guys that show up with their lunch pail every day and they’re ready to work.”
Header photo: TreVeyon Henderson – Don Callahan/247Sports
